Best Baby Toy from Recycled Household Stuff

Don't you love that title?

Sorry, I've been absent lately, but if you've looked around the blog lately, you can see we're having issues here. Blogger was going to stop supporting ftps, so we treid to migrate the blog, but after it finished - the images and pictures suddenly dissappeared! Still trying to recover those. So, while I've been desperate to blog, I hated to input energy into something that is in a state of disarray, especially since I have no idea what will need to be done to resolve the issue.

But I wanted to share this baby toy idea since this is the day to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. :^) I think I started it for Ethan, and all of my babies have loved it. It's probably Bella's favorite toy.

Our favorite Chinese place has these great take-out containers for their soup in quart and pint sizes. I save them all - they stack and the lids fit either - plus you can see the contents. But, if your Chinese place isn't that awesome a quart size yogurt container or other similarly sized container will do. Cut a slit about 1/4 - 1/2 inch wide on the lid.

Save your frozen juice lids - they don't have sharp edges (but check yours to be sure) and they make a delightful clink as they drop in on top of each other. We've also had a few of those flat plastic balloon weights from time to time. You only need a few to start the fun - I've been saving them for a while.

I think that Bella has been able to do this since about 9 months. And now - I've found a way to extend the life of the toy. Bella loves the foam stickers that I get the kids from the Dollar Tree. We had basic colored flower and butterfly stickers left over from Easter. I put them on the indented side of juice can lids in pairs. She tried to peel them off, but couldn't. I don't think that they would be a serious choking hazard even if she did since they're not stiff without the backing - you decide for yourself. But since I put the stickers on in pairs, the lids can now be used for color sorting, matching, and memory games. Rose and I played three rounds of Memory in a row and she was delighted with them too.

So there you have it!

And for another idea, I also made a square block dropper by cutting a square in the lid of a thin diaper wipes container and using the classic wooden blocks.

Have fun!